


Four Times Jane Picked Science Over Socializing and One Time Where, Ya No, She Still Picked Science

by raktajinos



Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Comic Book Science, F/M, Female Characters, Female Friendship, Gen, Science Experiments, Women Being Awesome, five times fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-01
Updated: 2013-05-01
Packaged: 2017-12-10 02:53:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/780931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raktajinos/pseuds/raktajinos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Like the title says :P. Cause Jane loves her science.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Grade School

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tristesses](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tristesses/gifts).



> I had a great time writing this, and I hope its something you enjoy. Jane is awesome!

It was Jane’s 7th birthday and Edith Foster had planned a wonderful party for her daughter. There was a bouncy castle and two ponies with the names of Bert and Ernie. Jane had shrieked when she saw the ponies, insisting they stay with her the entire party and giving them large pieces of cake. She even wanted to bring them onto the bouncy castle, but Edith stepped in before Jane had dragged them in. 

Her daughter was covered in cake, face paint and horse hair – a huge smile on her face and the backyard was filled with laugher as all her friends had a wonderful time. 

But all of that stopped after Jane opened her presents. Always gracious, Jane was happy with all the gifts her friends got her, but there was one in particular that completely took her attention. It was a junior forensic science kit, a gift from her aunt. 

When she opened the wrapping and pulled out the box, a light of confusion appeared on her face, unsure of what the gift was. The confusion didn’t last long as she opened the box and took out the various tools and devices within. And she read the instructions; read every word on the back of the box and then proceeded to read the entire ‘manual’ that told her what all the tools were. 

While she was reading this the other kids had started to wonder off – to eat more cake and play in the bouncy castle. Edith watched as her daughter set up her ‘mise en place’ on the picnic table, grabbed two of the primary tools and went to work. She looked all around the backyard before her eyes finally settled on the ponies, a gleam on her face. 

Using tweezers she extracted a hair from one of the ponies and placed it in a Petri dish, and then walked over to the picnic table and placed the dish in the microscope. She sat down, all professional and focused, pressing her eye to the microscope piece, playing with the dials on the side to get the image in focus. 

Jane spent the rest of the afternoon doing the same thing with a variety of items around the yard; grass, tree bark, cake crumbs, even the wrapping paper. She became so engrossed in her science that she didn’t even notice that the party had ended and her friends had gone home – even the ponies.


	2. High School

“Oh come on Jane” Kate whined, “you _have_ to come! You know Derek is going and what if he asks me to dance? Stuff could happen – it’s the social event of the year”

Jane grimaced at her friend’s insistence, “I would – but this thing came up with my Dad.”

“Oh please, like you cant go to some dumb observatory any ol’ time. _This_ dance is a once in a lifetime experience Jane.” 

Jane gave her friend a deadpan look from across the room. She was over helping Kate decide what dress to wear to the dance tomorrow. 

“Its not some dumb observatory Kate, it’s the premiere one in North America. Its state of the art and because of where its located and the time of year, we can see so far out into the galaxy, its unprecedented. Do you know how many discoveries have been made from this galaxy – “

“Snore. Have they discovered aliens?” her friend interjected snidely

“No, don’t be silly”

“Well then I fail to see what’s so important you have to miss the dance for. Those stars have been there for over a million years, they’ll be there in another week.”

“My Dad has the opportunity now. One of his clients is having him down to see the new ‘scope. A dance is just a dance.” Jane retorted. 

Kate gave a mock offended expression, “fine. But if Bobby Martin wonders where you are I’m going to tell him the truth; that you picked science over socializing.”

Jane smiled in winning the debate. “You really are _involved_ with science Jane. Its kinda scary.” Kate said. Jane just smiled back. Yes, yes she was.


	3. University

Jane sat in the coffee shop, absently stirring her coffee waiting for her date to arrive. It was a blind date, her friend Denise met this guy in her philosophy class and _assured_ Jane they would hit it off. Jane highly doubted it; she found she had little to talk about with people outside of the sciences and philosophy majors were the worst. Always answering questions with more questions, never giving an answer, constantly being so enraptured by their own thoughts and voice that they never had time for anyone else. 

If Jane was being less petulant, she’d agree that was an assessment that could be applied to any number of people in her own field, so she shouldn’t be so hard. But Jane _was_ being petulant and she was happy to just sit here and think up the excuses of why this date would go horribly. 

And it would, of that she had no doubt. Denise practically had to blackmail her into coming. Jane owed her friend a favour for helping her move and Denise said she’d be paid in full if she took this date. Not one to pass up such an easy payback, she agreed; but she didn’t have to agree to enjoying the date or for how long she had to stay here for. 

It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to date, she did, she just didn’t have the time….and frankly there were more interesting things going on in her lab than with any of the boys on campus. Which was maybe more of what the problem was, they were _boys_. Jane knew what she wanted in life and was focused on getting it. She had no time or patience for boys who wanted to goof off or “have fun”. If she was going to date, she wanted to date men; men who had their heads on straight and who had their priorities in order. Someone who actually gave a crap about the world and her work; about contributing to the planet.

And she doubted this Sean was going to fit that bill. 

She didn’t have to wait long to find out. A young man matching the facebook photo Denise gave her walked into the small café. She waved and he put in his order at the front and then came to join her at her table. 

“Hi, I’m Sean”, he smiled kindly

“Jane. Nice to meet you. Please, have a seat”

After about an hour, Jane decided the date seemed to be going okay and she was reluctant to admit that she might have been wrong about him…and philosophy majors. He had a lot of interesting opinions about the world and was quite charming. She was actually enjoying herself and she was dreading how she’d have to tell Denise as such when she got home. 

The afternoon sped along and they ordered several more coffees between them. They talked about all sorts of things, books, movies, her work, his research, their aspirations, etc. She was even starting to think she’d schedule a second date with him. 

A loud ring interrupted their conversation and Jane glanced at her phone, it was Erik. 

“Oh, sorry. I need to grab this” she said to Sean, picking up the phone before he had a chance to respond. 

“Erik? she said to the phone. 

The next few minutes were filled with Jane mostly nodding her head emphatically, excitement showing on her face. 

“Holy crap. You’re kidding” she said, her features dropping in shock. Tapping the phone off, she threw it in her pocket and haphazardly collected her coat and stuff from the seat. 

“I’m so sorry Sean. I’ve got to go. It was my professor. I – we – he – I’m a research student of his and a project um thingy – “ her words were frazzled not making any sense. “ya, sorry. I’ve got to go.”

“I’ll call you” she shouted back as she headed out of the coffee shop. 

“But you don’t have my number” Sean added quietly to her retreating back.


	4. Aasgard

“Jane?” Sif questioned aloud, coming into the cluttered lab, not seeing the young woman anywhere. The lab had been a gift from Thor, a place here on Aasgard that she could call her own and work in peace. He knew how much she loved research and the moment she landed with him on his home world, she was full of questions about the mystical planet. He loved her desire for knowledge and curiosity so he had this lab created for her full of earth-style instruments and many foreign ones. Sif had thought it a very considerate gift and had learned over the past few months that her friend could almost always be found in the lab. 

A brunette head popped up from behind a large bronze device, “Sif! Hello. Am I late?” Jane asked, her head already back down into whatever project she was working on. 

Laughing, Sif walked over to where the woman was working, “yes, quite. People are starting to wonder.”

“Oh, I’ll be right along. I was on my way down when I had this brain wave and I just had to come here and see if it worked. And it did! Come look” 

Sif approached the workstation, smiling at the sight of it. Jane was standing in this lab, bent over a series of test tubes and oddly coloured liquids dressed in a full regal gown. It was a ball celebrating Thor and Jane’s engagement and she was dressed in one of Queen Frigga’s most treasured gowns; quite the honour and showed all that the Queen welcomed her son’s choice of wife. 

Jane looked lovely in it; a deep royal red with gold highlights; exquisite embroidery over the bodice and large flowey draping on the bottom. Her hair, which had also been done in a regal style, was now slightly dishevelled from her hard work; she’d clearly attempted to run her hands through it.

Sif tried to focus on what Jane was talking to her about, watching as she pointed to various papers with equations on them and different blocks of gold coloured rock all over the counter. It was a rather common rock substance here on Aasgard, but Jane had been mesmerized with it since she first arrived and it had become the primary focus of her research. The lab was scattered with a variety of objects from around the planet some of which Sif had brought to Jane out of curiosity. She loved seeing the Earth woman’s reaction to the various things. 

“Jane” Sif interrupted, “we really should go. You are late for your own party”

Jane didn’t look up from her work, “oh yes yes. I’ll be right there. You go ahead.”

Sif tossed her head laughing slightly, it was so very _Jane_.


	5. Tony's Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> post Avengers

Darcy watched Jane from across the room, she was deep in conversation with Bruce about something; probably something sciencey. Darcy sighed, it was just like her boss to be at a party like _this_ and end up in the corner talking nerd with the other geniuses. 

It was Tony’s Second Annual Awesome Party – not even kidding, that’s what the billionaire playboy called it. He invited one hundred of his closest friends over to his house and had a super awesome party. It was Darcy’s first year coming; Jane got an invite last year but chose to stay at work to do something terribly boring with laser beams or something. But this year Darcy forced her to come with her, all but had to browbeat her into leaving her work for one night and coming to this. 

And Darcy was having an awesome time; she couldn’t believe the people who were here. She did work for SHIELD now, but how often did she get to actually hang out with the Avengers. The most she got to see them was in briefing meetings or in the hallways while they were running around saving the world. Except Thor, she saw a lot of Thor - sometimes more than she wanted to on account of him sleeping with her boss. And there were celebrities here, she just had a conversation about string cheese with Matthew Perry a few minutes ago. 

“Enjoying yourself, Lady Darcy?” the big lug that is Thor came up beside her and asked. 

“Are you kidding? Of course? Sarah Michelle Gellar is over there! I’m breathing the same air as Sarah Michelle Gellar.” she swooned. 

Thor gave one of his throaty regal laughs that he though conveyed humour, but everyone knew it meant he didn’t get the pop culture reference. Steve had a similar laugh when his 60-year deep freeze left him in the dark, but his was more of a nervous chuckle with some darty-eyes. 

“Wish Jane was having more fun though” 

“Oh? Is she not? She seems quite engaged with Bruce” he countered, his head turning to locate the woman. 

“Well ya, I mean she _loves_ talking science and can do it any moment. But she does it all the time and I worry she doesn’t know how to relax. Sometimes its good to chillax” 

They watched as Bruce and Jane’s conversation got more intense and then as she waved Tony over. 

“Oh great, now it’s the three of them. We’ll never get her away now. Do you know how many times she talks to Tony on the phone during the week. Geniuses!” Darcy said, exasperated. 

“Yes, I do. It is most….inconvenient on occasion when he calls” Thor said with a wink.

Darcy snorted laughing, spilling her drink a bit. “Oh man, that _sucks_ ” 

“But she loves her work and I enjoy that she is so bold with her opinions.”

“You do like pushy women” Darcy teased

“Indeed” he replied leaning down to her eye level and giving her one of his Panty-Dropping wide smiles. She faux-punched the large god on the arm; that smile was a weapon, but she liked the sentiment all the same. 

“Shall we go and try extradite her and get her to ‘chillax’?” he suggested and at her nod they walked over to the couch where Jane, Bruce and Tony were deep in conversation. 

“ – no, I’m telling a counter fusion system is the way to go. You don’t want to overload the quantum coils and create a duplicity feedback; you’ll fry it.” Jane said, hands moving emphatically as she made her point. She smiled up at Thor and Darcy as they approached. 

“But why have a three triage system when two will suffice.” Bruce countered. Tony was scribbling something on a napkin and passed it to the other two, “what about this. We have a three triage system, but one is a backup redundancy. I agree that it doesn’t need three, but a backup redundancy is always a good idea.” 

Bruce and Jane examined the napkin, silent for a moment while they considered the math. 

“What if instead of fibre silicone you use triocilcate gel; it should fix the risk of ion overload” Jane suggested; at their blank stares she clarified, “oh, it’s a material on Aasguard. I’ve been doing a lot of research with it, its fantastic.” she smiled up at Thor as she said it and he beamed, proud of his home and his lady. 

“Have you been holding out on me Foster” Tony teased,

“Haha, no. It just hasn’t passed all the tests yet. Fury knows about it but he wanted me to finish the chemical profiles before sharing it. You know how he gets” she explained. 

Tony’s eyes lit up; unsafe and untested technology always drew him in, never fearing life nor limb for science. “Its in one of my labs isn’t it. Its in my own house and Fury didn’t even tell me”

“Maybe….” Jane eluded, a twinkle in her eyes, “it _might_ be in lab 9”

“Well lets go!” Tony said, jumping up abruptly “lets really see if it’ll fix the ion issue and whatever else it could do! You coming Bruce?” 

“Of course” the quiet genius replied, getting up off the comfortable couch and brushing off his pants. 

Jane got up and gave Thor a quick kiss on the cheek, “I don’t know how long I’ll be, you’ll be okay?” at his nod she turned to walk away with the two other men. 

Darcy and Thor just stood there watching as the three of them bounded away towards the elevator, all talking at once, and excitement clear on their faces. As the elevator door shut, taking them away from view, Darcy turned to Thor, 

“There is string cheese over there” Darcy suggested, head nodding towards the food table, “want to go spray it on Steve?”

Thor’s face lit up with an incorrigible smile….


End file.
